6.  The applicants, Mrs Anna Sobiecka and Mr Ignacy Sobiecki, were born in 1957 and 1959 respectively and live in Chalin.
7.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
8.  The applicants are farmers and they own a property in Borowo, Poland.
9.  On 19 October 1998 the Włocławek Regional Governor (Wojewoda[1]) gave a decision limiting the applicants’ right to use their property because of a building permit granted to Europol Gaz S.A. (“the investor”) for the construction of an underground gas pipeline which would pass through the applicants’ property. The decision in question also obliged the applicants to make the property accessible to the investor in order that he could maintain the gas pipeline. It also imposed an obligation on the investor to restore the property to its previous condition and to pay the applicants compensation once the construction works were completed.
10.  On 1 December 1999 the investor informed the Lipno District Mayor (Starostwo Powiatowe) that the construction works on the gas pipeline had been completed.
11.  On 21 February 2000 the applicants requested the Lipno District Mayor to calculate the compensation due.
12.  On 28 March 2001 the Mayor gave a decision determining the amount of compensation due at 24,510 Polish zlotys (PLN).
13.  On unspecified dates the applicants and the investor lodged appeals.
14.  On 7 June 2001 the Kujawsko-Pomorski Regional Governor quashed the decision and remitted the case to the Lipno District Mayor.
15.  On 1 October 2002 the applicants lodged a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny) that the administration had taken no action.
16.  On 6 March 2003 the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the complaint and ordered the Mayor to give a decision and determine the amount of compensation within two months.
17.  That time-limit expired and no decision was given. However, the Mayor gave several procedural decisions (on 27 February, 30 April, 30 July and 29 October 2004, 31 January, 25 March, 31 May, 18 July, 13 September, 28 October and 30 November 2005, and 29 March and 31 May 2006), each time setting a new time-limit for the case to be decided (postanowienie o wyznaczeniu nowego terminu załatwienia sprawy). The Mayor relied on similar reasons for each postponement, which in his view were beyond his control, namely that there had been difficulties in finding a person who could draft an expert report on the value of the property (operat szacunkowy), a document which was indispensable in determining the amount of compensation.
18.  On unspecified dates the applicants and the investor again lodged complaints that the administration had taken no action, arguing that the Mayor had done nothing except set new time-limits for issuing the decision in question.
19.  On 28 January 2004 the Bydgoszcz Regional Administrative Court (Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny) gave judgment and dismissed the applicants’ complaint. The parties did not produce a copy of the reasoning in this judgment.
20.  On 24 August 2005 the Bydgoszcz Regional Administrative Court likewise dismissed the investor’s complaint. It held that the delay in issuing the decision requested was not attributable to the Mayor, who had experienced objective difficulty in finding an expert to draw up a report on the value of the property.
21.  On 21 February 2007 the Lipno District Mayor gave a decision determining the amount of compensation at PLN 12,226, and imposed an obligation on the investor to pay the compensation within fourteen days of the date on which the decision became final.
22.  The applicants and the investor appealed against that decision on 10 March 2007 and 13 March 2007 respectively.
23.  On 22 May 2007 the Kujawsko-Pomorski Regional Governor upheld the first-instance decision.
24.  On 16 July 2007 the applicants appealed to the Bydgoszcz Regional Administrative Court.
25.  On 31 July 2007 the Kujawsko-Pomorski Regional Governor suspended the enforcement of his own decision of 22 May 2007 pending the resolution of the case by the Regional Administrative Court.
26.  On 18 December 2007 the Bydgoszcz Regional Administrative Court quashed the challenged decision and the preceding decision of 21 February 2007. The proceedings are now pending before the Supreme Administrative Court.